Resonance
by baby-kitsune9
Summary: Gohan held many secrets. Siren Ikki was one of them. One that he would gladly die to protect. However with a baby on the way and an murderous organization after her- he had to leave his love in someone else's care. "Take care of her dad. She'll need you..." Gohan/OC. eventual Goku/OC. R&R and tell me what you think.
1. Chapter 1

It was a catalyst to an unknown event. Something drastic and life changing the very moment Gohan asked her, "Hey Bulma, could you hook me up with a house capsule? Maybe a model like 00659-3?" The teenage demi-saiyan sounded casual enough in asking his question of her but she could sense an underlying tone of urgency to it. After all, she was Bulma Briefs. One of the most brilliant people in the world. A world renowned scientist/inventor who had been friends with the Son family since the day she'd met Son Goku.

She was also a mother of a rambunctious ten year old demi sayian. And she could spot a plot, lie, or just plain BS from over a mile away. Even Vegeta had mentioned how uncanny her ability to do so was, on more than one occasion. So naturally she was just a mite curious as to why Gohan would be asking for a home capsule. Especially the model 00659-3, which was a nice enough home capsule, she supposed.

But it was also a model created for people who were just starting out on their own and had small families since the house capsule housed three, perhaps four at best. Which needless to say, made her more than a little curious.

You see, much like Gohan's question- His recent behavior in the past month or so had gone from his usual laid back and comfortable routine to... Well, something else. Something Bulma couldn't quite get a bead on. And she wasn't the only one having trouble fathoming the kid's recent changes in personality and habits, Vegeta, Piccolo, Goten, Trunks, Chichi, Krillin- they all had noticed these strange little patterns too.

And whenever anyone tried to call Gohan on something and see if he'd finally fess up to what he was up too, the teen would go from laid back to in your face, snarling like an animal until you felt so overwhelmed that he simply gave you no choice but to back off.

Why just a few weeks ago Vegeta had pissed Gohan off to the point where the kid had gone super saiyan level two and beat him almost to death before Piccolo and the others could manage to pull him off of the bloody and almost broken prince.

Bulma took a moment to think over his question, wondering if he'd get violent with her if she said no as she took a drag off of her cigarette and then slowly exhaled. "I could." She said slowly as she studied him as he continued to sit on her couch and roll her kid around while tickling him until he had Trunks laughing so hard that he couldn't breathe. _It's good to know that even with everything else changing, this hasn't. _She thought with a small smile as Trunks finally managed to wiggle away from Gohan who just settled one elbow on his knee and propped his chin in his hand and watched the kid run around the room pretending to be an airplane.

Apparently he wasn't the least bothered by the fact that Trunks had decided to play without him. "If I set you up with the capsule... Will you tell me why you need it?" She finally got around to asking, drawing Gohan's eyes from Trunks to her as he dropped his arm and sat back with a tired sounding sigh.

"I want to move out of the house back home. I'm old enough to take care of myself, and mom shouldn't be lonely or anything with Goten around."

Bulma blinked at this. Feeling just a little bit shocked at his confession. "Does you're mother know that you want to try living on your own?"

"Mom can bite me." Gohan growled, his laid back demeanor from before suddenly starting to vanish.

"Did you have a fight with your mom, Gohan?" Bulma asked as she moved to sit down next to him on the couch. It probably wasn't the smartest move to make given everything that had been happening the past month or so, but deep down she couldn't help but feel that despite the sudden temperament and anger, Gohan was Gohan. And he wouldn't hurt her. And she intended to trust that belief in him until she was proven otherwise.

"What?" Gohan had the good grace to look just a little bit startled by her question about his mom before saying, "No. Nothing like that. I just think it's time to leave the nest. That's all."

"You know Chichi isn't likely to care much for that idea." Bulma said as she reached out and put a hand on his shoulder.

"I honestly don't care if she likes it or not, Bulma. I'm not a baby anymore and she can't continue to try treating me like one."

"Where would you set the place up?"

"Close between here and where Piccolo is. Maybe fifty miles both ways... I'm not totally sure, all I know are that I'll need people I can trust to be close by." Bulma frowned at that particular statement.

"What exactly do you mean by that?" She asked as she leaned forward to look at his face a little more. Gohan was staring at his feet, his hands tightly fisted in his lap, his teeth were clenched. She could tell by the muscle ticking in his jaw. _Uh-oh. _The kid looked like he was ready to use his ki to blast something. So she decided that in the interest of self preservation, she should give him what he wanted and ask no more questions.

Getting up, she walked over to a table across the room. Narrowly missing being knocked down by her son, and pulled out a compact and looked through it until she found what Gohan had asked for, then tossed it to him.

He must have been watching her from underneath his lashes since he caught the capsule and quickly tucked it away in his pants pocket before muttering, "Thanks." And quickly getting to his feet and looking towards the sliding glass door across the way.

The sun was going down which meant that he'd spent too much time at Capsule Corp. He needed to go. Grabbing his backpack from the floor, he headed towards the door only to be stopped when Bulma reached out and snagged his shirt sleeve. Curious to see what she wanted, he turned to look at her when she held up his hand and dropped a blue card that he recognized as a credit card into his hand, and blinked. "Use the card. Set your place up and get what you need. Clothes, food, whatever- The only condition I have for you having the capsule and the card is that you don't quit school."

"I'm not planning too." Gohan said seriously knowing that for the most part it was only a half truth at best.

Because in another month... He would be dead.


	2. Chapter 2

The moment Gohan left Capsule Corp. he headed towards the usual place. The one that he'd run across four months ago after foiling a robbery as the Golden Fighter and taken refuge to prevent people he didn't know from learning who he was. The place where he'd met _**her**_. The love of his young life, and the first real girlfriend he'd ever had- Sieren Ikki. But he just liked to call her Siren. Mainly because that's what she had been to him.

An otherworldly siren.

Both in beauty and in presence. She was everything the young demi-saiyan could ever hope for and then some. She was like a drug to him, an addiction that he couldn't seem to get enough of. Which had more or less landed him in his present predicament of now being targeted by an organization of lunatics who were planning to use Siren to produce a child.

His child to be exact, and then kill him and her both so that they could raise the child to be whatever they wanted him/her to be. And it was because of this that Gohan had decided on several steps to free Siren. The first one was already accomplished. He'd known since last month when he'd gone to visit her home and spent a majority of the day and most of the evening fucking her into exhaustion.

Her scent had changed. Going from the nice floral scent that he was used to, to something that was a strange combination of his own scent (spices) and her own. The second part of his plan was to set up a place for her to live. And yeah, he'd practically lied to Bulma about where he would be setting the place up. But he didn't feel too badly about it since it was a protective measure against the organization.

The plan was to set the pace up close to both his father and Piccolo since the two had been living together since his dad and mom had separated, just before the Cell games. And though Goku had been dead for a few years, it hadn't stopped Piccolo from keeping an eye on the place. Much like Gohan and his father, the nemekian was comfortable there.

And when he was comfortable someplace a body would be hard pressed to get him to move for any reason. Which was great since it fell into line with Gohan's plans perfectly. He'd set the house up, get what he needed for Siren and their unborn child. And when he died he'd be leaving her in the protection of some of the strongest people on Earth.

She and their kid would be fine.

Finally after about an hour of flying, he reached his destination. A dome shaped brick building that was just a bit smaller than Capsule Corp. Perhaps due to the fact that they were Capsule Corp's competition. Beta Core. The company specialized in similar areas as Capsule Corp. with the exception of one or two things. One of which he knew was human experimentation. Another was brainwashing for military purposes... Making people sick for the sole purpose of curing them.

Descending slowly, Gohan aimed for the lone living quarters just a floor or two from the top floor, where there was a balcony and several small potted plants and of course the red fluttering curtains, indicating that the sliding glass door was still open despite how late it had become. Landing quietly on the balcony, Gohan moved swiftly past the fluttering curtains and stepped inside of the bedroom.

He stood there for a moment, his dark eyes scanning the pale blue and aqua walls before going to the bed. The bed that he and Siren had spent many hours mating on, his lips curving up in a small smile as he noted that Siren was curled up on the bed on her side. Her back to him. He must have been too late to catch her awake since her waist length dark hair was damp- possibly from bathing just a little while ago. And she was wearing one of the shirts that he had 'lost'.

Or so he had thought.

Walking over to the bed, he stood there for a moment just staring down at Siren appreciatively, watching her sleep. Then bent down so that he loomed over her and pressed his lips against the soft skin of her cheek while absently placing a hand over her stomach and kissed her temple before wrapping his arms around her and partially lifting her up off of the bed so that the could drag her into his lap. Once he had done that and had her settled comfortably where she could sleep in his arms without being disturbed, he nuzzled her hair, taking a deep breath so that he could check and make sure that her scent hadn't changed since last time.

And sure enough it hadn't.

The thrill of knowing what he had done to her made him shiver. He was going to be a father. It was such an unexpected occurrence, but not an altogether unwelcome one to the demi-sayian. Even with the knowledge that he would be leaving his lover and unborn child behind when he died.

Shifting Siren's slight body in his arms, he noted that there were needle markings and bandages around her throat and wrists and frowned. _What the hell? _He wondered as he lightly grasped one of Siren's arms in his hand and lifted it so that he could examine the bandages and any wounds he may find under them and took several moments to unwind the gauze from her wrist to find reddened and angry looking irritated skin that circled her wrist like a band all the way around.

There were two thick needle treks on polar opposites of her wrist hat were red and painful looking. Causing him to growl angrily before he quickly reigned in his temper and carefully rewrapped her wrist before lifting her hand to his lips and kissing her palm. "My poor girl..." He said so softly that his words were barely above a whisper. His lips moved against her skin as he repeated himself over and over until he choked, the dam inside of him finally burst and he started sobbing as he cried. "Just a little bit longer. That's all you have to wait, is just a little bit longer. Then I swear I'll save you-"


	3. Chapter 3

Later that night-

The moment Gohan set down outside of his childhood home, he got a strange feeling of apprehension given the fact that the kitchen light was on and it was... Glancing down at his watch, he internally cringed. _Oh shit- _No wonder the lights were on. It was almost five in the morning, which meant that while he had spent a good hour or so laying next to Siren and soaking up her presence before moving on and deciding to start setting up the house he planned for her to live in... His mom must have been waiting up for him.

Probably to ambush him and give him the impression that he was going to be executed if he didn't answer every little question she fired his way. Which sucked, yeah. Especially since he had been hoping to shower, change and grab some fresh day clothes then leave again to work some more on the house before retiring for the night back at Siren's place where he could finally crash and keep an eye on things.

Gulping slightly at what may lay in wait for him just inside the door, Gohan took a moment to mentally prepare himself before moving to grasp the doorknob and stiffened a bit when he heard his mom call out, "The door is still open Gohan. And if you're waiting for me to get too fed up with you to bother waiting on you- then you're sadly mistaken. _Now. Get. In. Here_."

Muttering an oath under his breath knowing that his mom couldn't hear him talking about her- And then turned the knob and slowly pushed the door open a little bit and then waited a moment or two. Just in case his mom decided to throw a fit _and_ a few dishes at his head.

Instead of dishes being thrown at his head, what he found was his mom moving around the kitchen- reheating his dinner and laying it out despite her obvious annoyance with him. So apparently she was in a better mood than he had expected.

"Sit down and eat your dinner, young man," Chichi said as she finished placing the last dish on the table for him as he slowly and very, very, cautiously moved inside of the kitchen and slowly closed the door behind him. "We have some stuff to talk about."

Warily making his way over to the table after slipping off his shoes and slipping his backpack off of his shoulder and setting it aside just inside the front door. He sat down and slowly picked up his chop sticks and started to munch on some rice when he heard the scraping of a chair being pulled back from the table and glanced up to see his mom sitting across from him with a peculiar expression on her face.

It was one of those, not quit irritated or pissed. Just a touch of irked with a little bit of a side order of happy- look that she was so famous for as she stared him down for several seconds while he mentally counted down in his head how long it would take her to break the silence.

He just barely got to five before she finally asked, "So... Did you have a nice day at school?" Causing him to grunt as he carefully thought out his reply. After all if he said, _Well no mom, not exactly. I was too busy being pushed around by a guy named Sharpner like a normal human, and thinking about my pregnant girlfriend to pay much attention to anything in class. Could you pass the salt please? _

He was pretty sure that his mom would have a stroke. Although he wasn't sure which part of the comment in his mind would send her over the edge. The part about being bullied by Sharpner. Or the part about his girlfriend.

He thought the second part would probably do it. After all his mom was still pretty young to be a grandparent. She wasn't even forty yet. Not to mention that she was pretty vain when it came to her looks and her age so... Yeah. Not mentioning his girlfriend was probably for the best. Especially since she'd find out at the same time his dad, Piccolo and everyone else did.

"Yeah. It was fine." He lied as he snatched up the salt and sprinkled some on one of the dishes and started eating again as his mom gave him a happy smile.

"That's good. I've been worried about you ever since you started public school. They don't exactly give everyone the opportunities that private school does, but I guess since you got in on a scholarship I shouldn't complain."

_No duh. _Gohan thought, already tiring of her prattling. He had shit he had to do and stuff he needed to set up before his time was up. Setting his half eaten food aside, he sighed and started to excuse himself when his mom said out of the blue, "We got some good news today..."

Gohan paused in mid step and turned his head just enough to look at her over his shoulder. His expression questioning as his mom waited for him to ask what she was talking about. But with that being the case, she'd have to wait a long, long, _long_ time since he didn't really care what her 'good' news was.

Sighing, Chichi continued to stare at him for a moment longer before saying. "Bulma called today after talking to Roshi, turns out that he was calling everyone to let us know that their re starting the martial arts tournaments for the title of strongest under the heavens. And everyone is going to be there to compete. _Everyone._ Understand?"

Gohan frowned as he mulled over her words and then shrugged his shoulders. He knew that she was trying to tell him something important, but right now, this very second- he just couldn't bring himself to give a damn. "Well whatever everyone wants to do with their time is their business. I have better things to-"

"You're fighting Gohan," The moment the words left her mouth Gohan automatically felt the rise of fury burning in his chest, the acidic taste of it in his mouth. He was so pissed that she would just declare something like that without his opinion first that he nearly turned super sayian for the sole purpose of smacking her. "I've already signed you and you're little brother up to compete. Not only that but you're father has finally decided that he wants to be wished back to life. So he'll be competeing as well."

"Good for him." He growled in a cold tone as he turned back away from her, and clenched his fists while he struggled to regain some small semblance of control before he well and truly snapped. It took him a moment or so, and several really deep breaths while counting to a hundred- but finally he had his temper back under control and managed to ask his mom how long until everything happened, and nearly blanched when she replied.

"Three weeks." Which more or less meant that now instead of a month to get everything in order- he had only three weeks left to live. And with so much left to do- he left the room feeling unsure of whether he should laugh or cry.


	4. Chapter 4

Gohan didn't bother going to school the next day since he now had so little time left to prepare for his impending death. So after waking up early that morning and quickly gathering some odds and ends which he placed in a duffle bag and then took a moment to peek in on his little brother and mom and felt a peculiar ache start in the general vicinity of his chest when he saw the two of them sleeping so peacefully.

God he was going to miss them when he died. Much like he was going to miss Siren and their child. Absently lifting a hand, he rubbed the spot over his heart and blinked back tears as he felt a nearly crippling urge to break down crying and sobbing his heart out.

Siren and their baby... He wouldn't be there for them. He wouldn't be there for any of Siren's weird late night cravings. He'd never be there to feel the baby kick or help siren get to the hospital when she went into labor. He'd never hold her hand while she gave birth to their son/daughter. He'd never hold his child in his arms or hear it cry for the first time.

Steeling himself, he moved away from his mother's bedroom door and began the quiet trek down the hall to the front door. The duffle bag slung over one shoulder, and a compact of capsules in his left pants pocket- Gohan left his childhood home and never looked back.

(*********************************************************************************************************************************************)

The rest of the day was for Gohan. What with setting up the house he'd gotten from Bulma half a mile from where his dad's new home was. Which meant that Piccolo could not only sense him but probably see him every time he came and went from said house after every time he returned from shopping. And though he could all but sense Piccolo's curiosity about his every action- the nemekian never really disturbed him or asked him questions.

Not even when he finally got tired of Gohan distracting him from his meditating and had decided to come over to the new house and see what was up.

Gohan had just returned from what must have been his tenth trip of the day and was unloading a small car that he had secretly gotten from Vegeta over a year go. 'Just for fun' the prince of the sayian's had said as he handed the capsule to the teen. But in truth, Vegeta had been insulted by Chichi and had wanted to get even by giving Gohan something that she had forbidden him to have until he was in collage.

Which was just ridiculous really. And because throwing the capsule away had been out of the question (because if Vegeta had found out he had done that, he would have killed him) Gohan had kept it and merely hidden it until he had felt he would need it. Like now.

He had just retrieved the fifth bag which contained clothing that he knew would fit Siren and a large heavy box with a crib in it when Piccolo suddenly dropped out of the sky a few feet to the side of him and looked at the car, the stuff in it and then him- questioningly. "Gohan." Piccolo said as Gohan acknowledged his presence with a quick glance and nod of his head in his direction.

"Piccolo."

"Shouldn't you be in school?" Piccolo asked with a small frown as he watched Gohan walk into the house and then come back out to the car empty handed.

"I'm taking the next few weeks off of school." Gohan said as he reached out and started grabbing more bags. These containing items such as toys, clothing for the baby, shoes, bibs, formula, pacifiers...ext. As well as aqua colored paint. Food, silverware, dishes. Towels, rags, a fuzzy pale green bathrobe, matching slippers, a few blankets and smaller and thinner baby blankets.

The list was almost endless.

Piccolo looked a little surprised at his answer, but other wise didn't have much to say about the topic of school. He knew his former student was a good kid and he probably had his reasons. He just hoped that Chichi didn't find out.

"Alright," Piccolo said after a moment or so before asking. "Need help with any of this-" _This mess... _He thought as he indicated to the rest of the bags sitting in the back seat of the car.

"You offering?" Gohan wondered aloud. Earning a smirk from his former teacher as the nemekian began to grab some things and then followed him inside and followed his lead, putting what he had in his arms down on the floor or on the table or any free space that they happened to find on the kitchen counter. They repeated the action of going to fetch the other bags several times and before long the entire kitchen space was eaten up by the bags of stuff.

Leaving both Piccolo and Gohan very little room to maneuver around the room. So Piccolo hung back, close to the nearest exit. The door that they had just walked through, and observed as Gohan began to systematically search out certain bags and unpack them.

His former student must have gotten through a majority of the bags and set the empty paper and plastic aside and was in the process of grabbing something else when Piccolo noticed the big box from earlier and curiously examined it. It was a box with a picture of a babies crib on it. Which was nice Piccolo supposed until he actually seemed to realize what he was looking at and his mind came to an abrupt halt.

Wait. Babies!

Argh! What the hell did Gohan do?!


	5. Chapter 5

_What the hell did Gohan do?!_ Piccolo wondered as he started to say, "Uh... Gohan," Meanwhile said teen continued to unload bag after bag and sort of zip out of the room and then come back. Over and over and over again until Piccolo practically shouted, _"Gohan!" _Causing the teen to come to an abrupt halt and look at him funny look the next time he stepped into the kitchen.

_"What?" _Gohan bit out from between clenched teeth as he glared at his former teacher as he noted that Piccolo had the box with his child's crib in his hands, and was pretty much waving it in the air above his head like a banner.

"This! This! What. Is. This?!" Piccolo growled out as he stalked across the room and then thrust the box into Gohan's face and gave the teen his fiercest scowl as he waited for his former student to give him what he hoped would be a _damned good_ explanation.

Instead what he got was Gohan baring his teeth at him and a loud rumbling growl emanating from him as he reached out and snatched the box right out of Piccolo's hands and continued to glare as his former teacher looked just a little on the startled side, however didn't back down.

Piccolo didn't really know what had possessed him to pick up the box and begin questioning Gohan like that, it was just... Well it was difficult to put into words just how territorial he had begun to feel the moment his eyes landed on the box and his mind had finally registered what it said on the side. After all Gohan was just eighteen years old, and though he had lived through more experiences and encountered more things than any one eighteen year old ever could- Piccolo had strangely hoped that Gohan would stay the same goofy, innocent kid that he'd always been.

So finding him in possession of a box with the makings of a babies crib was more than a little bit of a shock since Piccolo knew damn well that Gohan should not be active sexually just yet. Vegeta had said once off hand that as a mixed blood- made Gohan more difficult to read than others.

Sure he had the maturity of both an Earthling and a Sayian...

But that didn't really mean anything considering who his father was. In fact according to Vegeta most pureblooded Sayians didn't become sexually active until their twenties and thirties. Which apparently meant that the fact that Goku had not only managed to marry at eighteen and produce a child before he hit twenty was a fluke.

But that was neither here nor there- Not right now anyways. Not when he had Gohan trapped and was demanding answers.

But with Gohan refusing to answer any of his questioned, Piccolo had no choice but to fall back onto his default and look for some of the things that Vegeta had said were indicators of shifts in a sayian's behavior when they mated.

Things like, temperament, mood swings, the lengthening of their canine teeth... In some cases, such as Vegeta's when he and Bulma had mated- he had grown back his tail. And since Gohan was showing symptoms of some things rather than others (like the tail). Then it was only safe to assume that Gohan had indeed become sexually active and mated with someone.

Although why he couldn't do things the easy way and just introduce the damned girl to everyone, Piccolo would never- "Oh goddamit." He muttered as he recalled the last time Gohan had tried to introduce a girl to everyone.

Chichi had been there and the two of them had almost gotten into a knock down drag out fight when Chichi had opened her big mouth and told the girl that she didn't want her precious little boy accosiating with some floozy. So of course, Gohan had gotten upset with his mother. And everyone else had tried to pretend that nothing had happened due to the discomfort of the situation.

Rubbing his face with his hands in a frustrated gesture, Piccolo tried to think of how he should best deal with what he had just figured out. After all, Gohan was obviously keeping the fact that he had mated a secret from all of his friends. And quit possibly his family as well. Probably because of the fact that he had bought a crib which meant that there was a very, very, _very_ strong possibility that there either _was_ a child- or _would_ be a child involved very soon...

So what exactly was he supposed to do here? What was the appropriate thing to do?

"G-Gohan..." Piccolo started to say and paused and mentally, inwardly cringed when he thought about what he would be asking his former student next. _"Gohan, are you going to be a father?" _The teen looked him straight in the eye, silently challenging him even as he replied in a cold, flat, dead tone that made the bottom drop out of Piccolo's stomach.

"Yes."


	6. Chapter 6

Three days later- Piccolo was still trying to wrap his head around everything that Gohan had told him. Everything from the girl, to the baby, to what was going to happen at the end of the three week period. When Goku would return to the world of the living, and the martial arts tournament for Strongest Under the Heavens would take place. Piccolo just wished that that day wouldn't be marked by such a tragedy as Gohan's death.

But then the more he thought about Gohan dying that day, the more he felt it was only fitting that the teen would die on the day that his father returned to life and all of their friends and family gathered in one place to see him and take part in the tournament.

But that didn't stop Piccolo from wishing that there was a better way for Gohan to do what he needed to do for his mate... Siren? Had that been her name? Piccolo wondered as he tried to imagine what sort of girl his former student would fall so hard for. He knew that Gohan probably wouldn't go for a girl just like his mother. The woman was practically a witch.

Which he was just slightly relieved about.

But Gohan wouldn't want someone who couldn't at least land a hit on him or hold her own without being hurt too terribly bad. And a weak girl would be considered a total turnoff. Yet knowing that the girl was now pregnant would more or less make her helpless, wouldn't it? Piccolo wondered as he finished flying to Orange City and set down on the roof of Orange Star High. Gohan's school, where he would wait for his former student to come and meet up with him so that he could be taken to meet the girl that Gohan had mated while trying to recall everything that had been said days before.

_"So what's she like?" Piccolo asked as Gohan had sat down in the middle of an semi empty room with the large box tucked under one arm and a tool box in his other hand, and had started to dump everything out onto the floor. _

_"Hmm?" Gohan hummed, apparently not hearing him the first time. _

_Piccolo rolled his eyes at the teen and asked again in a louder tone, "The girl. What is she like?" All while thinking to himself, She must be something really special to keep you interested. _

_"She's nice." Gohan said as he scattered everything out across the floor directly in front of him so that he could see what all he had to work with and automatically noticed that he was missing two screws and one bolt. And frowned in irritation. _

_How the hell anyone expect he supposed to set up his child's crib properly if shit was missing? _

_"Nice. That's it?" Piccolo asked, feeling more than a little disappointed at Gohan's reply. Gohan tilted his head a little bit and glanced at him from under his lashes for a moment before saying. _

_"No. No, no. She's funny too." _

_"So, nice and funny. Anything else?" Piccolo asked in a dry tone that wasn't totally devoid of humor._

_"I love her." Gohan said simply, his words seeming to shut Piccolo's line of questioning down as he picked up several pieces of wood and started to try and put them together while Piccolo lapsed into silence for a little while before finally asking, _

_"Why didn't you tell anyone before about her?" It was a fair question, the nemekian thought as he waited for Gohan to answer. And when he finally did, Piccolo felt as if something had just closed around his heart and was trying to squeeze the life out of him. He simply hadn't expected Gohan's reply to be so long and detailed. Nor had he expected to hear about labs and genetic experiments and secret organizations funded by some of the most ruthless and bloodthirsty people in the world. Or how the girl was currently being used in a series of experiments that in the end- if she wasn't saved somehow- would kill her. _

_That was when Gohan had dropped a few more bombshells. But none of them had been quite as bad as when he has sat back on his heels and sighed and said in a tone barely above a whisper. "I'm a target for the organization too... I became one when I defeated Cell. But it took the people within the organization a while to finally track me down. I guess they must have known about me for about three maybe four months before now. And in that time several of our neighbors had either gone missing or were found dead." _

_"What?!" Piccolo had almost shouted as he moved away from the door, and took a step towards Gohan. His mind reeling with shock at what he'd just heard. Someone was after Gohan! His friend! He was so busy thinking up a million ways to kill the motherfuckers that he almost missed the rest of what Gohan was saying._

_"So it's only safe to assume that they were using those people to gather intel on my strengths and weaknesses so that they can get ready to strike. And when they do- and trust me on this- they will... Mom, Goten, you, and everyone else will be in danger. So after I'm done removing Siren from the labs and well out of the organization's reach. I'm going to remove everyone from further harm." _

_Swallowing past the lump in his throat, Piccolo opened his mouth to ask what Gohan meant. But the fact that the teen was looking at him again with a cold and calculating gaze stopped him dead. Whatever it was- he got the feeling that Gohan was reluctant to say it aloud. _

_And yet, he did. He took a moment or so to collect himself and then he said honestly, "Piccolo... I'm going to die." After the words had left Gohan's mouth, Piccolo had suddenly found himself back at Goku's place in the dark, his whole body wracked with sobs as he had left himself drop to the kitchen floor where he had curled up and cried himself to sleep for the first time since he had been a newly hatched baby._

_He'd woken up the next morning feeling like shit only to find Gohan moving around the kitchen several feet from him, whistling softly to himself. Acting as if he hadn't just all but killed the nemekian. _

_Groaning, Piccolo pushed himself upright and rubbed his head. Noting that there was a noticeable ache behind his eyes when he heard the facet turn on and then off again and found Gohan crouching down in front of him with an glass of water held out to him. "Here. It'll help with the headache." He said in a tone barely above a whisper, trying to be as quiet as possible so that he didn't hurt Piccolo any more than he already had. _

_"Thanks." Piccolo said in as he took the glass and then set it aside, not really feeling like he was up to drinking anything just yet as Gohan said. _

_"I'm sorry about yesterday. I didn't mean to dump all of that stuff on you like that." __Piccolo waved him off. Knowing that the kid had his reasons made the information somewhat easier to bear. Somewhat being the operative word. _

_"Yeah. Yeah. Whatever." Piccolo said gruffly as he drew his knees up to his chest. He was still feeling like crap and didn't want to talk about it. Gohan knew that yet still felt badly for telling his former teacher something that was so emotionally distressing. Besides, he'd come over with more than one purpose today. And that purpose was to see if Piccolo wanted to meet Siren. _


	7. Chapter 7

Sieren Ikki was fuming as she pulled on her shoes and headed for the front door of the compound that she had lived in most of her life. She just couldn't believe that her boyfriend would pull a stunt like this with her. After all, wasn't it some wise man from many, many, many eon's ago that had said 'don't mess with a pregnant woman'? Oh, she could still hear Gohan's soft, velvety tone ringing in her ears even now! Laughingly, taunting her even as he informed her that she was almost four hours late for school.

God! If it wasn't for the fact that she adored the boy so much and he had impregnated her- She'd kill him. Just wrap her hands around his neck and squeeze until he turned blue in the face.

Hell she still might do that. She thought grimly as she looked around for her book bag and silently snarled when she noted that it was missing. Again... No doubt because Dr. Mathus had grabbed it again so that he could check it for love letters or something to indicate that she had successfully integrated into her school and was blending in like a normal person.

After all if she didn't blend- he'd yank her out of the school and take what little freedom she was allowed and she would never see the light of day again as long as she lived. Which was why she had to be careful to maintain appearances as far as her 'normal, happy school life' went. Since she wasn't overly fond of being put in chains and locked up like some sort of prison inmate.

Sighing she went to the nearest broom closet and fished out her spare book bag even as her phone rang. The ringtone playing Dragon Soul, Gohan's ringtone. Baring her teeth as she slipped her spare bag over her head, she fished her cell out of her pants pocket and growled, "What?!" Into the receiver and heard her boyfriend's deep rumbling laugh come from the other end of the line before he informed her that school had just let out.

Causing her to freeze up for a second as she searched out a clock and took note of the time before whining. "G-ohan! Why did you let me sleep in so late?" If he laughed at her again, he was dead! She would see to it personally! She thought as she heard him make a humming sound before stating that he had simply wanted to let her rest for a while longer when in actuality he had done it just to be an ass and work her into a frenzy just for fun.

The jerk.

"Gohan, I swear if I didn't love you so much- I'd kill you." She said in an exasperated tone that made her boyfriend laugh again. If one could call the sound he made a laugh at all. It sounded much too dark to be considered a real sound of humor.

"Yeah," Gohan said from the other end of the line as he started up the stairs to the roof where he felt Piccolo waiting on him. "I know. Look, since you missed school and will need someone to give you notes to study- why not meet me at the usual place and I'll give you mine as an apology."

Sieren was quiet for a moment before stating. "You're playing me. I know it and yet, your right about the notes so for now I won't bother asking about what you're up too. Just know that if you piss me off any further I will hurt you."

"Okay sweetheart. See you in a few."

"Yeah, yeah- you and you're little dog too." She said as she hung up the phone and took a moment to take her bag off and grab her wallet and keys then headed out the door.


End file.
